Skinny Puppy interview with Ogre, recently after the death of Dwayne Goetell, in which he spoke of a conversation he had shortly before Dwayne's death.
We had major disagreements on direction. He didn't want me to turn this band into a rock band, which I wasn't. I didn't want him to turn it into a techno band, which I'm sure he wasn't going to either...
Skinny Puppy was hatched during the summer of 1983, in Vancouver, Canada, as the brainchild of two young men of approximately the same taste in music--Throbbing Gristle, Kraftwerk,... This unsightly marriage spawned Back and Forth (really rare).
B & F drew little or no attention, with the exception of Nettwerk Productions. Nettwerk made a two record deal with Skinny Puppy, and Remission was soon released. After Remission, in October of 1985, Wilhelm Schroeder (Bill Leeb of Front Line Assembly fame) joined and Bites, the first full-length recording, was released. Schroeder left in 1986, during the recording of Mind: TPI, and was replaced by Dwayne Goetell.
Following the release of Mind: TPI, Cleanse, Fold, and Manipulate was released; containing some of their most "coherent, powerful material to date." VIVIsectVI, released in October of 1988, marked the beginning of their "most ambitious tour to date", accompanied by "Chud".
The mind bending live show had evolved to more powerfully reflect the band's ongoing concerns for animal rights. Throughout the show, the audience witnessed a transformation. Ogre became the laboratory vivisectionist, the enlightened man, and finally the tortured test subject himself.
In response to the overwhelming response to Skinny Puppy, they released Rabies which took on a harder, more guitar-oriented sound. The video for "Worlock" was actually banned due to rapid violent imagery.
...nothing else really brings itself home. The sick thing is that violence really is a big part of our lives, and all we do is suppress it, not deal with it. It completely motivates our behavior, yet we never seem to admit that to ourselves. You know the world's not good to drink, but you drink it anyway...it's important to confront people and shock them into dealing with truths they're too afraid to deal with.
In October, 1990, Too Dark Park was released, offering up more "pure claustrophobia...frightful lyrical visions of a diseased, decayed planet." This was, again, followed by a tour and a new album: Last Rites, "a document of delusion...alot of pain and delusion."
It was the product of being near death, of being read those 'last rites'. This was my [Ogre] reality. In retrospect, it wasn't so much reality as it was partial delusion with bits and pieces of reality thrown in. That reality I can't really even talk about. Its just too 'out there'.
Following Last Rites was the recording, and subsequent final album, released by Skinny Puppy. Having been signed to American Records, they began the recording for The Process in Malibu, California, in the summer of 1993. They were given a house by the beach, and Shangri-La, the recording studio made famous by Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Eric Clapton. Not long before settling in, the Malibu fires during the fall of 1993 began, followed by the Malibu floods and mudslides in December. After two years of work on The Process, Ogre left the band, American dropped the band, and finally on August 23, 1995, Dwayne R. Goetell died from a fatal overdose of heroin in his parents' bathroom in hometown Edmonton, Canada.
He was the little-known genius behind the curtain of Skinny Puppy.
cEvin key has continued work on Doubting Thomas, Download, and Tear Garden, and Ogre has worked with Alien Jourgensen (Ministry) on W.E.L.T. and presently is on tour with KMFDM in support of their new album.
